Reed, Jaime. Keep Me In Mind.

Reed, Jaime.  Keep Me In Mind.  Scholastic Press/Point           2016    329p    $17.99  ISBN 978-0-545-88381-8  ms/hs  Realistic fiction  VG-BN           

Keep Me In Mind is a heartfelt novel about loss and love.  After a traumatic fall, Ellia forgets her boyfriend Liam and all of the excitement and spontaneity of their relationship, yet Liam perseveres in his effort to regain her love.  During her convalescence, he pens a book to tell her about their two years together and what they have meant to him.  Is it the mixed relationship that pits their families against one another or something else about Liam and Ellia’s relationship that has their parents on edge?   That is what Ellia has to figure out when she regains consciousness, only to discover that she has lost two years’ worth of memory.  Those two years were important.  They represented her relationship with Liam, the supposed love of her life.  As Liam tries to reinsert himself into Ellia’s life, he realizes the difficulties of doing so, since so much of their happiness was based on the spontaneity and newness of young love.  Ellia is just trying to survive the day-to-day headaches, memory loss, and trauma of trying to fit in with her old life.  She also is trying to survive her oppressive, overly protective parents.  It is up to the reader to decide whether or not something can be made of the broken pieces of their lives.  Liam’s patience endures as he tutors Ellia, refrains from mentioning their memories together, and thwarts the efforts of Ellia’s parents, and his own, to keep them apart.  In the end, it appears that all will be lost.  Then Liam places his novel about their lives on Ellia’s porch, and it is then that she learns how she fell, how stubbornly Liam fought to get her treatment, and how much he really cared about her, and vice versa.  New beginnings are possible in life.  We get few do-overs; most people get none.  The resolution is the theme, beautifully stated.  The characterizations are powerful, and the words of author Jaime Reed truly enable the reader to visualize and participate in the lives of the protagonists.  Though not unique to contemporary novels, the writing style with its constantly switching points of view is the best way to show what Liam and Ellia are thinking.  All in all, this book will keep teens glued to each page as they seek answers to the questions about the future of these two protagonists.     

This is a very good choice for middle- and high-school libraries.  In particular, the female teenage audience will enjoy the writing style, the conflicts, and the frustrations of a lost love.

                       

Summary: Ellia has amnesia and forgets the last two years of her life, the two years when she was involved in a relationship with Liam.

Amnesia-Fiction, Romance-Fiction                                                                --Martha Squaresky

Reed, Lynn Rowe. Roscoe and the Pelican Rescue.

Reed, Lynn Rowe.   Roscoe and the Pelican Rescue. 

Holiday House     2011  unp  14.95 978-0-8234-2352-1 

elem  Realistic Fiction       VG    

A boy goes to the Louisiana coast to visit his cousin one month after the Deep water Horizon oil

rig explosion and spill.  He helps rescue pelicans and other wildlife.  A boy

is excited about flying to Louisiana to visit his cousin.  They plan to spend

the day at the beach, but find the beach is closed due to the oil spill after

the Deep water Horizon rig explosion.  The children and dog, Roscoe, find some

pelicans covered with oil.  The family brings the birds to a wildlife rescue

center.  There the birds are cared for and cleaned up.  Other animals are also

rescued and cleaned.  When the birds are recovered, the family drives the

animals to a clean area and releases them.

  The text is accurate and clear about what is involved in rescuing animals from

an oil spill.  The International Bird Rescue Research Center has reviewed the

text for accuracy.

  The illustrations are almost cartoon-like.  They look like an elementary child

has painted them.  Children will relate to the illustrations but some adults

might not care for the style.

            Theal, Joan

Reed, Lynn Rowe. Color Chaos.

Reed, Lynn Rowe. Color Chaos
Holiday House 2010 unp 16.95 978-0-8234-2257-9
elem Color-- Fiction VG-BNe


When substitute principal Mr. Greystone prohibits colors at Hughes Elementary School, it takes a visit from illustrator Maurice Coleur to set things right. Includes information about primary, secondary, and tertiary colors and the color wheel.
Elementary students will find this title amusing while cheering for the crayons to be rescued. When substitute principal, Mr. Greystone╒s new board gets written on with every crayon during lunchtime, he creates new rules for the school to follow. Now in addition to the long list of rules, students are no longer allowed to use crayons, markers, or colors of any kind at Hughes Elementary. The crayons and art supplies with colors were collected and placed in the trash can. The crayons began to argue in the trash can and now everything at their once vibrant school is seen in grey. When Maurice Coleur, a famous illustrator arrives for his presentation, he too longer is vibrant. Meanwhile in the trash, the crayons and colored objects begin to work together to find a way out of there and to return life back to normal at their school. The colors found their proper places on the color wheel . When Mr. Coleur pulled out his once colorful illustrations to show the audience, he noticed that all were without color. These non-colorful illustrations upset him and he hit his head against the trash can, releasing the color wheel. At that time, Mr. Greystone realized that colors do matter and then has Mr. Coleur explain the color wheel to students. Young readers learn about primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, complimentary and analogous colors are addressed, along with easy-to-understand descriptions of hue, shade, tint, warm and cool colors, as well as the term value.

Beautifully illustrated with acrylic paints, this title will appeal to young readers. Realistic Fiction Forba-Mayer,Charleen